


Fall's Frost

by ZeoNyph



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Contest Entry, Implied pedophilia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:14:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26696566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZeoNyph/pseuds/ZeoNyph
Summary: Written for the 'Autumn' fanfic contest in r/TWDGFanfic.
Relationships: AJ | Alvin Jr. & Clementine (Walking Dead)
Kudos: 6





	Fall's Frost

**FALL'S FROST** ( _ **Trigger warning: implied pedophilia, graphic violence)**_

She never thought she’d be like that, but sometimes change finds a way, like how the rise of winter arose from the ashes of fall.

* * *

The forest was a haze of yellow and red, as the leaves fell from the trees and scattered across the floor, crunching under Clementine’s feet as she carried AJ on her arm.

When she was a kid, she always loved autumn, having spent hours in the nearby woods sitting and watching the leaves fall to the ground, loving how easily they crumbled in her hands. She even took some back home so that she could work on her leaf rubbings, which she had plenty of.

She remembered the last time she did a rubbing. It was back at the motor inn, and Lee had found her a stick of charcoal some time before that. The only reason she even remembered was because shortly after, bandits attacked the inn, and everything went downhill after that.

Shaking the thoughts out of her head, she focused herself on the path ahead.

It had been a week since Wellington fell, a week since she saw Edith get shot in the head.

A week since she saw the closest thing she and AJ had to a home crumble into ashes.

All the supplies she’d managed to take in the time she had was nearly running out. The brunette stopped near a clearing and sat down under an oak tree, blowing out a stray lock of hair. Grabbing the backpack she had, she placed AJ on the ground and looked inside.

“Shit…” she said, as she stared at what was left of her supplies. In the bag, there were two cans of chilli, a quarter box of baby formula, and half a bottle of water. But something else grabbed her attention inside.

_Whe-when he’s old enough, you make him wear it…_

Kenny’s hat lay undisturbed at the bottom of the bag, its beige color standing out from the black of the bag’s interior. Grabbing it, she swore she could feel her eyes tearing up. Leaving Kenny behind was one of the hardest things she ever did, and part of her regretted it.

If she said no, said that she’d come with him, they’d have been together, and she didn’t need to worry about the ghosts of her past. About being in a haven that was destined to fall.

What if he’d heard about Wellington? Maybe he’d never know they were alive, maybe he’d regret ever giving them to Edith.

_He just wanted us safe and sound._

Look where she was now. Alone, desperate, and above all, scared.

But she had to be strong, right? For AJ? She had to.

Wiping any stray tears off her face, she focused her eyes to the kid in question.

He was playing with the leaves that scattered across the floor, grabbing them in his hands and babbling excitedly as he watched them crumble in his hands into a yellow-red powder. The sight of it warmed her heart. It’s the closest he could get to those times she spent in the woods with all those crimson leaves.

Taking a quick look around to see whether they were clear of any walkers, the girl inched closer to her goofball, a smile on her face.

“Whatcha doin’ there, goofball?” she asked AJ, looking at him with loving eyes.

_Look at how happy he is…_

He looked at her and babbled again, showing Clem the leaves in his hands excitedly like a new toy he never saw before. The thought of AJ not being able to have the childhood she had before plagued her mind as she grabbed some leaves with him and sprayed them around, laughing with him.

She needed this. A moment to wind down a bit, before the storm came rumbling through. A break from the shit they’ve gone through these past few days.

Wrapped up in the moment, the crack of leaves behind her was the only warning she got before she heard a revolver click to her right.

“Well, look what we have here…” the man wielding the gun says, his voice rough and gruff. He wore a pair of heavily caked denim jeans, a pair of dirty sneakers, and a muddied white shirt. He also had a scar on his right eye, and had a long, untidy beard, with a bald head. His appearance screamed only one thing to Clementine.

_Bandit._

“Come on out boys! Looks like we found ourselves a treat!” the man shouts, stretching his arms widely as he looks at the bag, wrongly assuming it to be full, and staring directly at AJ, his eyes glinting with something Clementine can’t describe.

_Not a fucking chance in hell, asshole._

From behind the trees, five more bandits stepped out into the light, all of them wearing similar, if not grittier clothing, as the guy with the gun, or in this case, the leader. All were men, and they had a variety of responses, ranging from whistles directed at Clementine, to “Nice catch, boss!”, and even a “Damn, that bitch looks good.”

_Now it’s pedophiles. Even worse._

All of them had at least one weapon in their hands, so any attempt to fight back would be certain death for both her and AJ, and she’d never let him get in danger.

She was fucked.

“Now, girlie, there’s two ways you can do this.” the leader starts, aiming his revolver at her head again. “Option one: you give us your bag… and the kid, and you can be on your way and pretend this never happened.”

_Not a fucking chance. Never._

The leader must have seen the look on her face, because he stopped for a moment before looking to the rest of the bandits.

“Looks like we got ourselves a feisty one, guys!” he says, before turning back to Clementine. “I could give less of a shit about your history with that kid than with eating a can o’ beans. Either you give us all your stuff right now, or you get option two.”

“Option two?”

“Ha, she speaks! Option two, girl, is that if you try and do anything to any of us, well…” he replies, that glint returning to his eyes.

“...you’ll get a whole lot more than you bargained for.”

“If you’re saying what I think you’re saying, then you better fuck off.” she said, grabbing AJ, and preparing to leave with the bag.

Almost immediately, the others raised their weapons and pointed them at Clementine.

“Ah, ah, ah! Don’t think about it, kid. Now…” he approaches the brunette, the glint in his eyes sending a chill down her spine.

“Since you’re being rude to me and my boys, it looks like option two is the way to go!” he shouted, coming way too close for comfort.

Slowly, her hand went down to her jeans, where she had a knife holstered, hidden to the bastards.

“Sorry to disappoint, but that’s not happening.” she replied, and before anybody could react, she quickly grabbed her knife and proceeded to stab the leader in the groin. The guy’s face quickly morphed from anticipation to morbid anguish, letting out a guttural scream, and dropped the revolver he was holding as it hit the floor with a thud.

The others were in uproar.

Quickly, she pulled out the knife, and ran in the other direction as fast as she could, dumping the bag and holding AJ in her arm, who started bawling.

“THE FUCK Y’ALL WAITIN’ FOR! GET HER!” she heard him yell, and the leaves cracked like glass as they ran towards her, weapons in hand.

_Come on, Clementine. You can do this._

“Don’t worry, AJ. I’ll get you out of this.”

One of them reached her and grabbed her by the corner of her jacket, but before he could stab her with the kitchen knife he had, she drove her knife into his wrist and pulled up with all her might. She didn’t need to know what happened to him; his deafening roar of pain and a soft thud told her all she needed to know.

“Shit, she got Z!”

To her right, another one popped out of the woods, running at her with a lead pipe in his hand banzai-style. She quickly stepped to the side, as he missed and hit a tree with a sickening crack and thud, and continued to run, as she heard the whoosh of a bullet as it collided with the tree behind her.

_Run, Clementine._

Run?

If this happened at least a few days earlier, she’d have been almost eager to run, to make sure AJ was safe, to make sure she never saw them again.

But there was something inside her that wanted to do something else, something that she’d never considered doing for a long time.

Until now.

Stopping to catch her breath, she found herself in another clearing, where a rusted, old pickup truck stood near a rock, the leaves covering it in a frail layer of orange and crimson.

Running towards it, the leaves cracking underneath her sneakers, she quickly opens the door and carefully puts AJ inside, who was still crying.

_My little goofball..._

“It’ll be okay, AJ. Just stay here, okay?” she said, wiping a tear from his cheek, before closing it. He tried to crawl towards the door to open it, but his crying had reduced somewhat.

She takes a quick look around the area. The sound of leaves and footsteps disturbed the otherwise peaceful atmosphere the place had. The sun was shining on her face, and to her it almost felt like a ray of hope, hope that she’d get out with AJ alive.

Because she wasn’t going to run. Not this time.

She was going to stay and fight.

Her Glock was holstered in the right side of her waistband, and she took it out, inspecting it for a moment, before pulling out its magazine. Counting the bullets, she found that she had three bullets left.

_Three rounds. Three bandits. Gotta make them count._

She stood in the centre, gun in one hand, knife in the other, the latter still being coated with the blood of the two bandits. And she waits…

And waits…

And then the footsteps get louder, the crack and sway of the leaves amplifying the inevitability of this moment.

One wrong shot, and she dies.

One misplaced stab, and she dies.

One moment of hesitation, and she dies.

She won’t fail. She can’t. She will survive.

For Lee.

For Kenny.

For Luke.

For Rebecca and Alvin.

For everyone.

“There you are, you fucking bitch.” she hears from her right, and looks to find that the bandits have finally managed to find her. A quick look around, and she knows that they have her surrounded.

_Take this one step at a time. The one on the left has a bat, the one on the front has a pistol, one on the right has a knife. Simple enough, right?_

Once she made a plan, all she had to do was wait for them to make the first move.

“The fuck we standin’ ‘round here for? Let’s make her pay!” the one in the middle shouted, and so it began.

The one on the left started to approach Clementine, bat in hand. “The boss is gonna love you, girl.” he said, before raising his bat in an attempt to strike. In anticipation, she jammed the knife through his ribcage, causing him to drop the bat as he groaned in pain, and quickly dragged him in front of the guy with the rifle, who pulled the trigger.

“AHH SHIT!”

The bullet went cleanly through the shoulder of the bandit she’d been holding as he screamed, the blood splattering across her jacket and face, and she promptly thanked her genes for making her short enough as she walked towards the second bandit.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” the rifleman shouted as he panickedly tried to cock his rifle. “The fuck you waitin’ for, Sam? Get the bastard!”

The guy on the right responded with a quick nod as he ran towards the girl with the hat, readying his knife. Quickly, she aims her gun at him, firing and hitting him cleanly through the head, as he crumpled down to the floor.

“Shit, Sam! I’ll get you for that, you little shit!” the rifleman shouts, before again aiming at Clementine and firing. This time, it hits the head of her hostage, and she pulls out the knife, letting his body slump to the floor.

“Fuck me…” the final bandit said, as he tried to reload once again, but she fires a bullet at his leg, causing him to kneel as he let out a ‘FUCK!’, and before he manages to get an aim on Clementine, she kicks the rifle away, and holsters her pistol.

“Shit… please! Don’t… I don’t want to die… no, NO, PLEASE-!” he tries to say, before he’s interrupted by the knife that was now lodged in his throat. He starts gurgling blood, as tears start to fall.

“No, people like you don’t deserve to cry.” she says, before ramming it even further. “You deserve to DIE.”

His body twitches for a few more moments, sending the autumn leaves flying everywhere, until he stills, and the gurgling stops.

All was silent now; only the wind and AJ’s bawling were heard, with the sway of the leaves nowhere in sight.

She looked at the body of the last bandit, his clothes fully stained by the fountain of crimson that leaked from his throat, considering for a moment whether she should-

_No, The fucker deserves to turn._

She never thought she’d be like that, but sometimes change finds a way, like how the rise of winter arose from the ashes of fall.

As she takes AJ and leaves, she remembered that her supplies were all gone, along with Kenny’s hat. The last thing he had given her, lost to a fucking bandit of all people.

As she wipes the tears from AJ’s face, she realizes that the only one left was AJ, and she’d die before anything happens to him.

She owes him that much at least.

Soon, she finds a trailer, abandoned, and the breeze becomes colder.

The frost is coming, and she’ll be ready.

**-FIN-**


End file.
